As renewable energy becomes a mainstream form of supplying electricity, home and business owners are installing photovoltaic cells (colloquially known as “solar panels”) to generate electric power for their energy needs. Solar panels are generally installed in the form of a solar panel array which comprises an array of individual solar panels attached to a roof or wall of a building. Although each individual solar panel in the array may not create a large amount of useful energy, the plurality of panels in an array can supply a sizeable quantity of energy to supply power to the building or be fed back to a wider electrical grid.
Solar panels continue to generate an electric current as long as they are exposed to light. As a result, an array of panels on the roof of a building can generate a large amount of energy during daylight hours. However, unlike conventional “grid” power which can be disconnected from the building during an emergency, the electric current supplied by the solar panel cannot be disconnected from the building since electric current is generated continuously while the solar array continues to be exposed to sunlight. In these circumstances, a hazardous situation may occur during an emergency situation as the solar panels will continue to be “live” even when they have been disconnected from the grid.